The Institute for Computing Education at Georgia Tech

The Institute for Computing Education at Georgia Tech Barbara Ericson Georgia Tech ericson@cc. gatech. edu http: //coweb. cc. gatech. edu/ice-gt

History of ICE n n Joint effort by the Georgia DOE and Georgia Tech Started in 2004 n AP CS teachers needed training in Java and OO n Only 44 schools offering AP CS out of > 400

Goals of ICE n Increase the number of qualified computing teachers in Georgia n Train teachers with no formal background in Computer Science n n Typically business teachers Increase the number and diversity of computing students in Georgia

Original Computing Courses Computer Applications Word, Powerpoint, Excel IT Foundations History, Networking, Web Dev Programming and Systems Management Programming, database, GUI, etc Advanced Placement Computer Science

Curriculum Revision n An external review found that Georgia's standards n n Did not follow national standards Were too broad and shallow Lacked rigor Were content based – not performance based

Revision Committee n A committee of high school computing teachers, university faculty, and DOE staff created new performance-based standards n n Committee met 5 times from Sept 2005 to Feb 2006 Created 3 new computing courses n Based on the ACM model curriculum for K-12 http: //csta. acm. org/Curriculum/sub/ACMK 12 CSModel. html

Comparing Curriculums ACM Model Curriculum Level 2 (II) Computer Science in the Modern World Level 3 (III) Computer Science as Analysis and Design Georgia Curriculum Level 2 (II) Computing in the Modern World Level 3 (III) Beginning Programming Level 3 (III) Intermediate Programming Level 4 (IV) Topics in CS – Advanced Placement CS

Professional Development n Summer workshops n n n Grown from two weeks in 2004 To four weeks in 2008 School-year workshops n n n LEGO NXT robots Alice Media Computation Games AP Exam

Teacher Training Results n AP CS has grown from 44 schools in Georgia in 2004 to over 90 schools in 2009 n n https: //apcourseaudit. epi conline. org/ledger/ 304 unique teachers from 199 schools and 12 states 2004 40 2005 72 2006 80 2007 2008 2009 95 92 63

Summer 2009 Workshops n Computing in the Modern World n n Beginning Programming n n Media Computation in Python and IPRE robots Intermediate Programming n n Pico. Crickets, Scratch, Alice, and CS Unplugged Activities Media Computation in Java and Greenfoot AP CS A n Alice and Media Computation, Grid. World, Greenfoot, etc

Pico. Crickets n Invention kit integrating art and technology n http: //www. picocricket. com/

Scratch n Free software from MIT for creating 2 D animations and games n http: //scratch. mit. edu

Alice 2. 2 n Free software from CMU for creating 3 D movies and games n http: //www. alice. org

Alice 3. 0 Beta n Free software from CMU for creating 3 D movies and games n http: //www. alice. org n n Includes the Electronic Arts Sims characters Can import into Netbeans IDE as Java code

CS Unplugged n Free materials for teaching computing concepts without a computer n http: //csunplugged. org/ Binary Numbers Network Deadlocks

Media Computation n Writing textual programs to manipulate media http: //www. mediacomputation. org Soup. Audio Collage

IPRE Robots n Parallax scribbler robots with color camera and Bluetooth n http: //www. roboteducation. org/

Greenfoot n Free software from the Un. of Kent and Deakin Un. for building 2 D simulations and games in Java http: //www. greenfoot. org

Alice and Media Computation n Teaching computing concepts in Alice first and then covering the same concepts in Java with Media Computation n http: //home. cc. gatec h. edu/Tea. Party

Grid. World n Advanced Placement Computer Science Case Study n n Example of a larger program for students to learn from Used to teach objectoriented concepts

Wearable Computers n Developed by Leah Buechley n n Now of MIT Very small computers, sensors, and lights n Connected with conductive thread

Pleo Robots n Devloped by Ugobe n n n The creator of the Furby Now owned by Innvo Labs Programmed using My. Skit or the Pleo Dev Kit

Lending Library for Teachers n We lend our LEGO NXT robots and Pico. Cricket kits n n n Up to 3 weeks at a time Up to 12 kits per teacher Must leave a deposit n And lose deposit if missing parts or not sorted

Certification Issues in CS n Most states do not require training in CS for teachers n n Georgia does not require any training Business teachers are considered in field for CS http: //csta. acm. org/Communications/sub/Documents. html

Certification Issues in Georgia n In 2005 the Georgia Professional Standards Commission changed the rules so that only business teachers could teach AP CS n n n We would have lost an entire district of math teachers who were teaching AP CS And we had a physics teacher and 2 music teachers Georgia Tech was able to convince the GA PSC to allow anyone with a valid teaching certificate to teach AP CS n But, we wanted to ensure that teachers had sufficient training in computer science

CS Endorsement n Committee formed to create an endorsement based on the NCATE standards in 2006 n Teachers, university faculty, and Georgia Professional Standards Commission n Endorsement passed in Dec 2008 n n n Worked for 1 year Posted for 6 months for comments Only voluntary for now Can be added to any type of teaching certification Two schools will offer it in Georgia n n Kennesaw State University – fall 2009 Columbus State University – online in 2010

Student Outreach n Summer Camps n n High school since 2004 Middle school since 2006 Elem school (4 th and 5 th) since 2009 Weekend afterschool computing activities n n n Girl Scouts since 2005 YWCA since 2007 Cool Girls, Boys and Girls Clubs, Boy Scouts 2008

Summer Camps n Our camps always fill n So we started training and providing "seed money" to other colleges and universities in Georgia in 2007 n n From NSF BPC grant We have started 8 additional summer camps in Georgia since 2007 http: //coweb. cc. gatech. edu/ice-gt/915

Girl Scout Outreach n 2005 -2006 – 40 n n LEGO robots 2006 -2007 – 80 n LEGO robots and Alice n 2007 -2008 – 428 n 2008 -2009 – 455 n LEGO, Alice, Pico. Crickets, Scratch

YWCA – Teen Girls in Tech n Afterschool program at 4 area middle schools n n Worked with since spring 2007 Mentored 2 FIRST LEGO League teams

Cool Girls n Low income middle school girls n Started in fall 2008

Boys and Girls Clubs n n Worked with nearby location Also did webinar on Scratch

Computing Competitions n AP Bowl n n Practice Advanced Placement CS Exam Scratch – new in 2010 Alice – new in 2010 Robo. Cup Jr. – proposed n n n Dance Rescue Soccer

Results? n One of our summer camp kids from 2005 is now a 3 rd year CS major n n n We get statistically significant changes in attitudes towards computing n n n Just won most outstanding Junior Wants to go to graduate school In just a 4 hour workshop Using Pico. Crickets, Scratch, and Alice Kids report an increase in interest in CS

CS Education Info n The 4 years of math and science push n n n The 10, 000 teachers by 2015 push from Jan Cuny of the National Science Foundation n Development of a new AP course in computer science Want a course that appeals to more people Rebooting unemployed IT workers to be teachers n n Texas gives math credit for AP CS Georgia gives science credit for AP CS (just removed!) Georgia's alternative teacher prep program High School Program n Training high school students to be helpers

Operation Reboot n Transform 30 unemployed IT workers into high school computing teachers n n 10 per year for 3 years IT worker n n n Paid a stipend of $3410 a month for 11 months Co-teaches 2 computing classes / sections per year with the existing computing teacher Earns initial teaching certificate through Ga. TAPP n n And a CS endorsement http: //coweb. cc. gatech. edu/ice-gt/1077

Timeline n First group of 10 selected by Thanksgiving n n n Second group of 10 selected by June 2010 n n n Begin training Nov 30 th Start in classroom in Jan 2010 Begin training July 2010 Start in classroom in Aug 2010 Third group of 10 selected by June 2011 n n Begin training July 2011 Start in classroom in Aug 2011

How can you help? n n n Visit schools for career day Allow a computing teacher to shadow you Volunteer to help your local AP CS teacher n n Mentor a robot competition team n n n Or get your school to offer AP CS Or assist Do workshops for youth serving organizations Offer summer camps

Funding n Georgia Tech and the Georgia Department of Education have both supported this effort n Along with the Toyota Foundation, Microsoft, Atlanta Women's Foundation, and the National Science Foundation